<p>What about graphic design? What about videogames? What about music? I could more easily document my design thought process in these cases. I have paintings/drawings, but not much preparation went into making them; I kind of just "made" them, so documenting my design thought process may be a little difficult and artificial here. Do they prefer to see only paintings/drawings, or would they also be content with medium such as those mentioned above, given the same quality? Also, when "documenting design thought process", how would you recommend going about doing this? I've read some statements here that your portfolio should be simple and should really mainly consist of pictures with very little text (as they will most likely read very little, if any, of it). So I guess documenting the design process should be accomplished via a "slideshow" as opposed to mainly text explanations (and that if there's any text, it should be very little, possibly accompanying the text).</p>
<p>I heard basically the same thing from several different programs that they want to see a visual demonstration of creativity, a working understanding of methods and materials and your ability to express your intent to others in a visual way. I think that the text explanations should be kept to a minimum, used only as you feel necessary. The folks looking at your portfolio are good at what they do, have screened thousands, many many thousands, of portfolios and they know what they are looking at. </p>
<p>Some schools have specific portfolio requirements. Be sure to check with each program.</p>